Personal Prevention

Personal prevention covers the steps you can take to reduce your risk of tick-borne illness, including assessing your local risk, using repellents effectively, and understanding testing options available to you.

In this section

  • Understanding Your Personal Risk — Learn how tick-borne disease risk varies by location and find resources to assess the specific threats in your region. This section covers geographic patterns of tick species and diseases, plus how to access local surveillance data for your area.

  • Repellents — Repellents are substances applied to skin or clothing to deter insects and other pests from biting or landing. This section explores the evidence on repellent products, their active ingredients, and how to use them effectively.

  • Testing for Tick-Borne Disease

  • Property and Yard Treatment — treating the yard, property, and home environment to reduce tick populations; this article covers personal protection, not environmental treatment

  • Animals and Pets — tick protection for pets and livestock; separate audience, separate products; this article covers human protection only

  • Tick Biology and Ecology — tick species, seasonality, and habitat; this article may reference biology briefly to motivate a prevention behavior but does not explain tick biology

  • The Disease Landscape — the diseases, not how to prevent them; this article covers what to do to avoid getting these diseases

    Not medical advice. See a healthcare provider for medical decisions. Medical Disclaimer